


love's always been sink or swim (so i won't say it's over)

by grimmauld



Series: camp nano april 2020 [2]
Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: 5+1, 5+1 Things, Angry Kissing, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguing, Breaking Up & Making Up, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hickeys, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Making Out, Marriage Proposal, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Vaguely Linear Narrative, Vignettes, loosely follows the movie, theres a lot of dialogue, what are we conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23472109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimmauld/pseuds/grimmauld
Summary: five times lou and debbie kissed in secret and the one time everybody knew
Relationships: Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Series: camp nano april 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688479
Comments: 16
Kudos: 93





	1. give it a chance dear

**Author's Note:**

> a chaptered fic? by me? who would have thought. story title from tell me its real by seafret
> 
> this has been a wip for ages and with camp nano april i finally decided to get it going (chapter one was written over a year ago pls don’t roast me i swear it gets way better)
> 
> edit (29/07/2020): minor changes to the formatting, reworded a few sentences in chapter 3.
> 
> come hang on tumblr: gaylupin.tumblr.com

**1.**

They were always flirty and they had kissed before, obviously. It meant everything to Lou but they never gave it a name. At this point it seems unlikely that Debbie feels the same way. Lou felt so much, though. Every moment she had, she wanted to spend with Deb, she wanted to lay in bed with her in her arms. She wanted to stroke her hair as they watched films. She wanted to kiss her softly, she wanted to kiss her hard. She wanted to sleep with her, she wanted to _sleep_ with her. Debbie was affectionate, physically, but she never fucking spoke about her feelings.

It happened once. Just once. They were more careful after. They were on the couch in Lou’s apartment, (their apartment), Debbie was straddling Lou’s lap, her hands on either side of the blonde’s face, their lips connected in a frantic and passionate kiss. Lou shifted them so that rather than having them both sat up, she was laying flat with Debbie on top of her. Her hands found purchase in Debbie’s hair, soft moans escaping her and getting lost in the other woman’s mouth. Lou arched up, like a ribbon twirling through the air she fluidly pressed herself into Debbie. The degree of anticipation she felt was immeasurable, excitement quivering throughout her whole body. She pressed herself into the kiss even more, snaking her tongue out to meet Debbie’s once more.

The two of them were so engulfed in the feeling, in each other. They didn’t hear the door opening. To be fair, they didn’t expect Tammy to come over _unannounced_ when they gave her a key, and she was always quiet entering and exiting rooms. A habit from their… profession. They broke apart when they heard Tammy’s startled yelp. She had walked in just as Lou had slipped Debbie’s button up blouse down her shoulders, leaving her in just a bra and jeans. Debbie had frozen, the classic deer in the headlights look on her face. Lou was disgruntled, more than a little annoyed at Tammy for interrupting, hands resting gently on Debbie’s waist, the warmth of her skin flaring under her touch.

“Like 20 more minutes, that’s all we needed,” She said, petulantly. That got Debbie moving again, albeit to stare at Lou incredulously and slap her arm. As much as she was shocked and reprimanding Lou for being horny, gay and annoyed, she wasn’t making much of an effort to move or put her shirt back on.

“What did you need, Tammy?” She sighed.

“Oh. Uh, it’s fine. Unimportant. I can go?”

“You’re here now, just say it.”

“Are you two a couple? That wasn’t it, but now it’s all I can think to ask.”

“I don’t know,” Lou said eventually.

“Sorry, what? You don’t fucking know?”

“I dunno, we never really talked about it.”

Debbie shrugged but looked a little put out. Did that mean that she thought they were more. No, Lou was probably just reading too far into it. Curses of being a horny lesbian, she supposed. It did have it’s perks though, because she did have a hot lady on top of her staring at Tammy with fire in her eyes.

“Hey, Tam? Get the fuck out, then?”

“Right. Yes. Out. I’ll, um- I’ll leave now.”

When she had left Debbie turned back to Lou and resumed her previous actions. She wound her tongue with Lou’s as her hands roamed over the others chest, squeezing, caressing.

“Deb- Mmph. Wait,” She stuttered out between the hot presses of mouth on mouth.

“What?” Debbie asked impatiently but making no effort to go back to kissing. She respected Lou far too much for that.

“I guess I want to know what we are. What is this?”

“Whatever you want it to be, baby,” Deb replied.

“So, girlfriends then?”

“Oh.”

“O-Oh. Never mind. Just friends.”

“No! Girlfriends! Yes, girlfriends would be nice. I’d like to be your girlfriend.”

Lou smiled a blistering, blinding grin. All she had wanted just came true. She returned to kissing Debbie with vigour, hands roaming even more than they did before. She undid the clasp of the Deb’s bra. White light exploded behind her eyelids. Fireworks.


	2. you'll break my heart, i'll let you

**2.**

After the whole shit show that was Claude Becker. After prison. After five years, eight months and twelve days. After Debbie pulled out Lou’s heart and stepped on it. After ‘Why did you and Debbie end so abruptly?’ and ‘Because she cheated on me with some fucking guy called Claude. Claude! Who the fuck names their kid Claude nowadays?’

Well, you could say that she was bitter. You _could_ say that, and you’d be completely accurate. She had always been petty, it’s just that Debbie had generally not been on the receiving end of such a high intensity of salt from Lou before.

It was after all of that. It was after ‘Oh, honey, is this a proposal?’ It was after ‘Baby, I don’t even have a diamond yet.’ After all of that and Lou was still crawling back. She knew she was a goner from the first moment she saw Debbie again after five years, eight months and twelve days looking far too beautiful for someone who had just been released from prison. Her girlfriend (ex-girlfriend? definitely ex-girlfriend) always knew how put on a show, though.

“Baby?” Debbie said softly one night when they were alone in the loft, trying for some sort of semblance of normal. Pre-Prison.

“Hmm?” Lou answered, noncommittal, eyes trained on the book in front of her. Looking, but not reading. Not taking anything in, just thinking.

“Lou,” Debbie tried again. She tore her eyes away from the book and finally, finally looked at Debbie.

“What, Debbie?” She asked shortly. She didn’t really know how to act around the other anymore.

“You know I never loved him. We never did anything, I think I kissed him once or twice. It was for us, baby, nothing else.”

That set Lou alight.

“For us? _For_ fucking _us?_ If it were for us then you should have talked to me. We could have planned it. It wasn’t for us, Debbie, stop kidding me and stop kidding yourself. Becker pulled you into his web and you went willingly. So what, you didn’t fuck him. You still kissed him. You still kissed him when you were supposed to be kissing me. _That_ is not how relationships work, Debbie. You don't get to kiss other people and think I'll be fucking fine with it. That we'll be fine and fucking dandy. I loved you Deborah. I really fucking loved you. I still fucking love you and that’s the worst part of this.”

Debbie looked broken and that broke Lou. She had tried for almost six stupid _fucking_ years to forget about the other but she couldn’t. She had to be done but they both knew she wouldn’t be. She was Debbie’s. No amount of watered down vodka could change that. No amount of pretty girls.

The almost empty boxes of Chinese food lay abandoned on the floor by the couch. She was completely still as Debbie shifted to be next to her. She didn’t move as she rested her head on her shoulder. She wasn’t fucking moving. She felt a drop of something wet land on her chest, she tried to look while still staying frozen in place, but found it too difficult. So she shifted. Debbie’s eyes were filled with tears. Once more, Lou broke.

Being in love with Debbie Ocean was some kind of torture designed specifically for her.

She watched as Debbie carefully secured anger onto her face. She watched as Debbie masked her sadness with fire and fight.

“You really wanted to run bingo cons for the rest of your life, Lou? You really wanted that? I saw an opportunity to get out of it and I fucking took it. So, sue me. I didn’t want to be stuck with fucking bingo.”

Lou knew that she shouldn’t fight back, shouldn’t rise to the bait but it was just so easy when Debbie was like this. It was so, so easy to just bite instead of bark, fucking go for it. Fight back. She pushed herself up, off of the couch and stood, staring at Debbie incredulously.

"Mm, yeah. I didn't. But I was content being poor and running bingo cons because I was with you, and I wasn't hooking up with some pretty little dime piece on the side. I would rather be poor and happy with you, than rich and whatever _this_ is. 'Cause this," she paused and gestured wildly to the room, "this isn't happiness."

Debbie was quiet, but Lou wasn't done. "I fucking hate you and I hate myself even more for still loving you. You can't waltz back into my life and expect me to be fine. You left me here, in a country I didn't grow up in, because you got a better offer. How fucking shit."

"Lou-"

"You do _not_ get to call me baby and take up the space you used to own."

Debbie jumped up, "I'm fucking sorry, Lou. Is that what you wanted? You want me to get on my fucking knees and beg you? I'm _sorry._ I'm really fucking sorry. You can hate me, we can be fully fucking over if you want, but please, _please_ just help me. You can hate me afterwards, but I just need this con. Okay? I need it."

"Fine. Fine, I'll help you, I’ll do your fucking heist, but I have to be done after that. We have to be done after that." Even as she said it, she knew it wasn't true. Lou Miller would always be Debbie Ocean's. It's like a fact of the universe.

"Okay," Debbie whispered, her eyes flicking down to Lou's mouth for just a second before regaining eye contact.

Lou sighed and ran her tongue over her bottom lip. She took a step closer, never breaking eye contact. She was close enough to touch now, so that's what Lou did. She pressed her hands softly to Debbie's waist, holding with barely there pressure and just watched. Debbie tilted her head in silent question. Lou nodded, almost imperceptibly.

Debbie leaned up and kissed her softly, eyes closed, mouth warm. It was gentle, slow, nothing like what the past month had made them used to. There wasn't fire, it was a soft sort of relearning. Tentative, like they weren't sure they should be doing it at all. They had the time to be slow, now. To map each other out once again. The hurt, and anger, and distrust was still there as Lou opened her mouth, movements slow and gentle as the mood required, but they knew they could fix it. They had never had an argument they couldn't fix. All of the hurt could be let go of. Debbie’s tongue slipped out to meet hers, hand cradling Lou’s jaw.

She wasn't done being angry, and she knew this wasn't going to be the last time they argued, but for now she could pretend that everything was normal. Like Claude Becker never happened.


	3. about missing you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tysm to mims, julian and ben for beta reading this chapter for me <333

**3.**

Lou’s favourite pastime would probably always be watching Debbie. She had this brilliant way of making boring things beautiful. Or maybe, Debbie was just beautiful.

Lou will be the first to admit that she was hesitant about going through with the heist. They’re trying to rob the Met Gala. It’s going to be hard. She doesn’t doubt that they can do it, of course.

She isn’t stupid enough to doubt a determined Ocean.

-

No matter how determined Debbie was, she wouldn't have a heist if she didn't just pick a damn person to join. She huffed, staring at Debbie like she couldn't believe her.

"Why not him?"

"He's a 'him'."

"Oh, so no 'him's now? I thought you liked 'him's."

"For fuck's sake, Lou, do we have to do this right now?"

Lou said nothing, just raised a singular eyebrow and stared Debbie dead in the eyes.

"At the moment, I only like one 'her' and that 'her' is on thin fucking ice."

"Oh, _I'm_ the one on thin ice?"

"I don't want men on this team. Try again, we're looking for a 'her'," Debbie said, trying to change the subject.

Lou sighed. She knew that she shouldn't keep fighting with Debbie, but she was still hurt. Her father hadn't taught her how to deal with emotions very well, anyway.

He was an angry brute of a man. Never should've had kids.

"Fine," she paused, "what about Rose Weil?"

"What, like the fashion designer?"

"Yeah. Irish, no one'll buy her stuff anymore, 'cause she's a bit nuts. Could be just morally ambiguous enough for us."

Debbie cocked her head to the side, thinking it over. "She does fit in almost perfectly."

Lou smiled.

"Oh, wipe that smug fucking smile off of your face, Lou," Debbie said with a laugh, leaning over to brush her lips against Lou's.

Lou didn't waste any time in wrapping her arms around Debbie's waist and hauling her into her lap. Debbie broke the kiss and pushed herself up onto her knees, hovering over Lou. Lou ran her tongue over her bottom lip and quirked a brow. Debbie leaned down to connect their lips again, hands firm against Lou's cheeks. Lou's left hand trailed up Debbie's back, touch light, before tangling in the hair at the base of her head. Debbie moaned lightly into Lou's mouth, hips circling down.

Their mouths disconnected, Lou buried her face into Debbie's neck, lightly kissing and sucking before latching onto a point just below her ear. She sucked and bit and licked and kissed until a light purple bruise had formed. Debbie whined above her, pulling her face from her neck to kiss her again.

"As much as I'll always love kissing you," Debbie gasped, disconnecting their mouths, "We should pause."

Lou stopped instantly, worry colouring her face.

"No, no nothing like that," Debbie said, "I just want you to know that I fucking love you and I wanna be _with_ you again. Not exes or 'whatever-we-are-again's. I wanna be _yours_ again, Lou, and I want you to be mine again"

"Baby, you know I never stopped being yours."

The loft was silent, Debbie's warm weight on top of Lou shifted. She slid off her lap.

"I'm yours too," She whispered to Lou, before leaning over to pick up another file from the coffee table.

Lou shook her head lightly, equal parts exasperated and fond. (And just a little bit horny.)

"Okay. So we need a Fence-" Lou started.

"Tammy."

"You know she's retired, Deb."

"She'll say yes."

"How can you be so sure."

Debbie gave her a look. Lou knew Tammy would say yes, she'd already texted her, but letting Debbie have the satisfaction was Lou’s second favourite pastime.

"Fine. Tammy's the fence. Amita on jewellery? Who else do we need?"

"Someone for hacking the cameras. Tech kind of person, and we could probably do with a pick-pocket."

"Okay. Do-" Lou paused, "I still don't know what we are or where we stand, Deb, but I want you to promise me that you'll actually _talk_ to me. Everything in me is saying I should leave. You're the best worst decision I've ever made."

"I promise you, baby, you're _it_ for me. I got...scared. That's all. We were poor, and everything about you felt stable and real and _important._ I'm conditioned to run from that. Becker was a fleeting thought, and that's what drew me in. I'm yours, Lou. I'm not scared anymore."

Lou nodded, leaning over to kiss Debbie softly. "Okay."

-

Their team came together quickly. One look from Debbie had Lou volunteering her loft for them to stay at until the heist was over.

Constance and Nine Ball were getting along like a house on fire. Rose's frantic sketching was a common sound in the living room, along with video game sound effects and Lou's old record player crackling away in the corner. It was nice. Then there was a shout as Nine Ball kicked Amita's ass at Mario Kart.

Lou walked out of the kitchen.

“You know, if you don’t want the others to find out about you and Deb, you might wanna cover those up. And maybe stop her from sneaking into your room every night.”

Lou's head snapped to the side to look at Tammy from where she was leaning on the wall. "What?"

Tammy nodded her head to the hickey peaking out from the collar of Lou's white button-up shirt. Lou smirked at Tammy.

"And what if I want them to know?"

"Yeah, but does Debbie?"

Lou scowled, adjusting her shirt so that the hickey was covered. "I'll just bring a girl home, then they won't think about Debbie and me again."

"No, you won't."

"No, I won't. Is it covered?"

"You're good."

They walked into the lounge area together, sitting on the couch near Debbie. Lou leaned in to see what the document Debbie was pouring over said.

"Yo~" Constance called, staring at Lou, "Lou's got a hickey on her tit!"

Nine Ball looked up languidly, Rose didn't react.

"It's on her collarbone, actually," Debbie said without thinking.

The loft fell silent.

"I mean, I saw it as she sat down. The shirt collar makes it so that it has to be higher than her breast, that's basic biology. Yeah."

Lou blinked in surprise, "What the fuck is going on?"

Tammy couldn't contain her laugh from that point. She stood, her hand pressed to her mouth and left the room.


	4. victory is in the fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, massive thanks to ben for reading over this n telling me i did good

**4.**

Debbie sighed, looking at Tammy, "Lou and I were going through a rough patch. Financially. Becker gave me an out. So I took it, thinking I could take as much as I could from him and bring it all back to Lou. But he took me by surprise. I couldn't even say goodbye to her."

-

Lou looked at the screen, eyes unfocused as she processed exactly what she saw. Tammy had noticed and froze, eyes never leaving Lou. Lou pushed herself up from where she was leaning down and walked out of the loft, her jaw tensed. Nine Ball looked confused as she watched her go, turning to ask Tammy what was going on. Tammy shook her head, eyes never leaving Lou's retreating form. Something like recognition sparked in Nine Ball's eyes

-

"Hey. We need to talk, 'cause you better tell me this is not what I think it is," Lou called, barely controlled anger simmering at the surfaces as she stormed onto the sand.

Debbie feigned innocence, a skill she was very, _very_ good at. Unless she was talking to Lou, "What?"

"Claude Becker," Lou said.

"I didn't do that."

Lou was furious. She hadn't felt this mad in months. Nothing could ever be simple with Debbie, could it? Of course she had to frame the bastard that put her in jail. Who the fuck did Debbie think she was kidding.

"Don't con me, you do not run a job inside a job"

"It's not going to matter," Debbie said, placating.

"We are going to get caught. Why do you do this? Why can't you just do a job?"

"He put me in jail, Lou," Debbie said, anger beginning to fester inside of her, too. "For five years, eight months and twelve days I was in jail because of him. You have no idea what that's like."

"You're right," Lou replied, "I don't know what that's like, but he fucked my girlfriend while she was supposed to be with me and you don't see me framing him for a multi-million dollar robbery. So."

Debbie blinked in surprise, "I get it. You're mad. You're allowed to be, but come on, Lou."

"You frame him I walk, Debbie."

Debbie was certain she wouldn't. She knew that Lou would stay.

"I have to."

"Then I'm gone," Lou sighed, head shaking as she reigned back tears, "This is _just_ like last time."

"Lou. Lou!"

“We’re partners, Debbie," Lou cut her off, "We’re supposed to be partners but you don’t give me shit. I have no idea what’s going on with you. Ever. I thought we were good. I thought we had worked our shit out—or most of it at least—but we haven’t, clearly. I thought we were putting Becker behind us.”

“We are! Or- We can. But I have to do this. We need to frame someone, why not kill two birds?”

“Because it ties you to the fucking crime, Debbie,” Lou exclaimed, “you frame him, and you’re linked. You could go back to prison.”

“I won’t, because we’ll make sure there’s no way they can figure out it wasn’t him. He sent me to jail, Lou.”

Lou could feel her eyes welling up for the second time, “Yeah. And he's going to do it again. I can’t fucking lose you again.”

Debbie took a step forward, tentatively pressing a hand to Lou’s shoulder. When she wasn’t shaken off, she pulled Lou into a tight hug. “No, he's not. He's not. I’m not going anywhere, baby. They will never find out it was me.”

Lou leaned forward and connected their lips in a desperate, heady kiss. It felt like forgiveness and anger and love all at once. Lou pulled Debbie infinitely closer, one arm wrapped around her waist, her other hand buried in Debbie's long hair. Debbie, for her credit, was returning the kiss with fervour.

They stayed intertwined with one another for what felt like hours. The daylight faded around them and the chill from the biting wind set in.

"You promised me you would talk to me," Lou whispered.

"I'm sorry."

-

They entered the loft together. It was quiet. When they got to the living room they found the lights on but the room itself was empty. There was a white, plastic bag on the coffee table with a folded note leaning against it.

They shared a look, hesitant. "Those ladies are going to ruin me if they keep leaving the lights on, do you know how much the electricity bill was? Jesus."

Debbie rolled her eyes, she walked over to the couch and flopped onto it, leaning forward to peek inside the bag.

"Oh, fuck yeah! Chinese food."

Lou leaned over the back of the couch and plucked the note from Debbie's hands with a kiss to the top of her head. Debbie yelped indignantly.

_'Lou, figured you and Debbie would want a quiet night or whatever. You and her clearly have something pretty special, so don't let her fuck it up again. I charged the bill to your credit card, by the way, I'm not that nice - Nine.'_

Lou scoffed, dropping the note into Debbie's lap for her to read and walking around to the other side of the couch to join her, reaching into the bag to pull out the cartons.

Debbie cuddled up to Lou's side as she waited for Lou to distribute the food.

"This is nice."

"Yeah," Lou agreed softly, "it is."

Debbie looked past Lou to the doorway leading from the lounge room to the hallway. She saw Nine Ball in the doorway. She smiled at her, appreciative and mouthed, 'Thank you.'

Nine Ball smiled back and turned around to head up the stairs.

Debbie refocused onto Lou, leaning up to press a kiss to her jaw.


	5. think of the nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a massive thanks to ppl for reading over this n telling me it was 'crisp and funky' (ben)

**5.**

It was happening. No going back for anyone. All that was left for them to do was to get changed and enjoy the moment. They had done it. Worrying about the police could happen later. Debbie left the Met and walked down the street to where she would be meeting Lou.

She had no reason to be nervous. She knew, objectively, that there was no way Lou wouldn't be there. The minutes ticked over, with every passing second her heart beat faster. A truck drove past, blocking her view of the other side of the road. When it had passed, Lou was there. She looked beautiful. With every step, her green jumpsuit sparkled beneath the warm glow of the city lights.

Lou smiled, hand coming up to tug softly at the deep cut of her neckline. She stopped in front of Debbie.

"Hi."

"Hi," Debbie replied, her eyes scanning Lou up and down, "You look beautiful."

Lou smiled at her, eyes bright with love and determination. She stepped closer to Debbie, wrapping her arms around her waist and resting her forehead against hers. Debbie's snaked her arms around Lou's neck, eyes slipping closed. Lou closed the gap between their lips. Debbie's lips parted slowly, letting Lou's tongue in to explore every corner of her mouth. Lou leaned down further, spinning Debbie into a slight dip.

The city melted away around them. For just a moment, time stood still. Nothing mattered to them except this moment. Somewhere in the back of her mind Debbie knew they had to be getting back. She ignored it in favour of one more second with Lou's body pressed fully to hers.

-

After everything else, bringing Daphne Kluger into the fold was the easiest decision they had ever had to make.

The girl sure knew how to make a dramatic entrance. Daphne walked into the room, no more a woman than a storm with skin.

"You guys are fucked."

Everyone except Lou and Debbie jolted, eyes wide like a deer in headlights, watching as she looked around the loft. Time seemed to move in slow motion.

("Must be a bitch to heat.")

"Excuse me," Tammy exclaimed, covering up shock and fear with indignation fit for an entitled, suburban mother, "you are trespassing."

"Nope, we asked her to come," Lou cut in, looking at Debbie with a slight smile.

Debbie smiled back, mischief glinting in her eye. She always did love surprises.

Tammy looked even more shocked. She wasn't used to being left out of the loop.

"We realised a few days ago," Debbie started, "that Ms. Kluger-"

Daphne cut her off, "wasn't a total fucking idiot?"

"-might have gotten a sense of what we were doing," Debbie finished, ignoring her.

"First of all, if there's one thing I know, it's bad acting, and I almost never throw up—even when I'm really wasted—and, last but not least, I _never_ forget a face."

"Yeah. So, seems to me that eight shares of one hundred and fifty million is better than seven shares of nothing."

Daphne smiled at them, waiting for them to accept her, so to speak. Her smile quickly fell into a frown, "Chilly. _'Hi, Daph, welcome to the team! Let's not all high-five at once.'_ Plus, _I_ am the one who is saving your asses from insurance fraud."

The other five started, looking at Debbie and Lou incredulously.

"Insurance fraud?"

"What?"

"I was going to get to that. They've assigned an insurance investigator-"

"Who's about to look up your ass with a flashlight," Daphne cut in again.

"Who?" Rose asked, nervous.

Daphne answered again, not really being of any help.

"His name is John Fraizer-"

"You _know_ him?" Amita asked.

"Yeah, he busted my father twice and my brother once," Debbie explained.

"He's family," Lou quipped, easily making Debbie laugh.

Debbie looked at Lou, ignoring Rose's stressed rambling. She loved her. Even with everything she had done, Lou still loved her. Debbie didn't think she would ever feel worthy of Lou. However much Lou loved her, Debbie loved Lou just as much back. Finding Lou was her saving grace and she had nearly fucked it all up. But Lou was kind, and far too good for the cards life had handed her. And more than anything, she loved wholeheartedly. Debbie got to see that.

She tuned back is as Lou was speaking. "No one is going to jail."

"We expected this. We planned for it," Debbie agreed.

"Yup. That's clear," Nine Ball said, looking at the ceiling.

"Okay, then who will be the prime suspects?" Amita was asking.

"We've got a few," Lou answered, "the security guys, the bus boys, the-"

"The shady guy who put you away," Tammy said, nodding her head.

"The boyfriend," Daphne muttered.

Lou furrowed her brow, lip curling in distaste, "not her boyfriend."

Daphne's head tilted to the side, calculating the meaning of Lou's comment.

Debbie ignored her, "They were going to be looking for someone, just had to make sure it wasn't one of us."

Lou nodded along, overselling casualty, "It's nice."

"Thanks." Debbie said, tilting her head toward the hallway in a silent _'we'll talk about this later'._

Daphne started talking to the room, talking more than any of them would but not really saying anything.

"Why are you doing this?" Tammy asked, disbelieving.

For the first time, Daphne seemed lost for words. "I...Don't really have that many close female friendships and book clubs are the _worst_ so I thought, you know, ' _This could be something fun to share.'"_

"You're becoming a criminal because you're, what? Lonely? Bored?"

-

Later, when everyone else had gone to sleep—Daphne in the last remaining spare room—Debbie was laying on Lou's bed, watching as she changed into sleeping clothes. She hadn't slept in her own room once.

"You know Daphne didn't mean anything by that comment. She had no way of knowing."

"I know."

"You don't have to be jealous. Or worried. I'm better than that now. I had a lot of time to think about it."

"Thought you were thinking about the heist."

"Sure I was, but you were always there too. You can only run a heist in your head so many times until you get it running smoothly. I had nothing left to think about except you. I always thought I'd know what to say. How to fix things. It's been months and I still don't know if what I'm saying is the right thing. I don't know what to do to convince you that you're it for me."

"Just- not tonight, Deb. Let's just be happy with where we are. Let's just go to sleep."

She flicked the light off, blindly making her way to the bed. Debbie slipped under the covers, rolling over to face Lou's side. As she climbed under the sheets, Debbie shuffled closer, burying her face in Lou's neck. Lou, in turn, pressed her back against Debbie. She sighed.

"Love you."

Debbie pressed a gentle kiss to Lou's neck, "I love you, too."


	6. i could be loving you so

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's a bit short yikes

**+1**

Kissing Debbie had the same feeling of a con going right. It felt like that moment when the gears shifted and clicked and everything worked. It felt like stealing the Toussaint. It felt like gold, and diamond, and heaven.

Debbie’s warm weight was on top of Lou, their fronts pressed together at every point. Lou’s hands were in Debbie’s hair, tugging softly to pull her back in for another kiss.

They eventually managed to crawl out of bed and head downstairs.

"Why the fuck are you guys here so early?" Debbie asked.

"I thought all of you had moved out?"

They've been free and one hundred and fifty million dollars richer for two weeks, each of the girls had settled back into regular life quite quickly, only Lou and Debbie remaining in the loft. It was a lot quieter than Lou had remembered.

"Well, I thought we could have breakfast together. Old times, you know?" Tammy said, looking at Lou pointedly.

Lou looked back at her, confused.

"Sure," Debbie said, shaking her head and walking over to the fridge.

Lou went to speak, but thought better of it and shut her mouth, moving to the stove and taking the eggs from Debbie.

Breakfast was ready quickly, with minimal mishaps from Debbie Ocean being present in the kitchen. Lou set everything onto the table in front of her guests.

"Go on then."

They moved quickly, piling eggs and toast onto their plates. Lou honestly felt, not for the first time with their group, like she was raising a bunch of children. Except for Tammy, who was actually acting like an adult. Deb was walking a fine line.

"Hey, Lou," Debbie said, halfway through breakfast. She sounded casual, which immediately made Lou suspicious. "Can I ask you a question?"

Lou smiled to herself cheekily, "Oh honey, is this that proposal?"

Debbie looked up, staring Lou dead in the eye, "well, baby, I finally have the diamond for you."

Lou choked on the food in her mouth, "Sorry?"

She pulled out a black, velvet ring box and placed it on the table, sliding it over to Lou. Rose dropped her fork. It clattered onto the floor loudly, but neither Debbie nor Lou reacted.

Lou reached for the box with shaking fingers, she gently opened the lid and looked at the ring sitting snugly inside.

It was beautiful, with a white gold band, and a pear shaped black diamond set in the centre.

Lou looked at Debbie, eyes shining with unshed tears. Like she couldn't quite believe it.

"Well? Are you going to marry me, or what?"

"Fucking obviously I'll marry you."

Lou stood up, rushing over to Debbie and pulling her into a deep kiss. Their tears mingled on their lips, but they paid them no mind.

Somewhere in the background they could hear the girls freaking out, but, like the tears, they ignored them. They broke apart, Debbie leaned forward to reach for the ring box, Lou's face burying into her neck. She pulled out the ring and slipped it onto Lou's finger. Finally, finally, they looked at their company.

"Hi." Lou said.

"Hi. What the fuck?" Daphne replied, "when did this happen and why didn't we know?"

"Well, we've technically been together for around decade, right? Or are we counting my prison years as 'on a break'?"

"We've been together for six years," Lou said, "you didn't know because you weren't observant. Also we were fighting for a lot of the heist."

"That was you fighting? The entirely functional, dynamic duo was how you act when _fighting_? Why were you even fighting, anyway?"

"Lou-"

"Claude Becker."

"Okay, well," Debbie said, dropping her head into her hands, "not exactly where I wanted this conversation to go."

"Oh~" Daphne said, thinking back to Lou's distaste of the man.

"We're just going to leave it. We're good."

Debbie smiled, "yeah, we're good."

"You know, I'm kind of offended you didn't ask me to make the ring, Deb," Amita said, smiling at the two of them, not actually offended.

-

Wedding planning was far more stressful than either of them had accounted for. Luckily, they had friends in high places.

Rose was designing clothes for the both of them, Amita had made them both wedding rings. Daphne had found them a beautiful venue, Nine Ball had began work on security for it.

Lou pulled Tammy aside from the rest of the girls one night.

She spoke in a hushed voice, "I wanted to know if you would be my maid of honour, I know it's a bit more difficult, the whole naming conventions thing, because Deb and I are both women, but I'd really be honoured if you would be up there with me."

Tammy looked on the verge of tears as she frantically nodded her agreement.

Debbie looked over at them and smiled. She had asked if Rusty would be up for being best man for her earlier that day.

It wasn't easy, both being a criminal and a lesbian in love with your best friend, but Lou was willing to work for it. And here she was. About to be married. And so fucking rich.

Life was about to be even better.

Lou and Tammy walked back over to the group, Lou making a beeline for the spot next to Debbie. She curled up into the space, resting her head on Debbie's shoulder. She watched in silence as Constance and Amita bickered about what film to watch. Debbie pressed a soft kiss to the crown of Lou's head and pulled her in closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was a wild ride, thanks so much for sticking around!
> 
> i wanna say some thanks real quick:  
> \- ben for reading my shit n letting me yell at him  
> \- mimsy and julian for reading over a chapter for me and giving kick ass feedback  
> \- the hogwartsonline discord server bc i love sprinting with yall  
> \- cate blanchett. just bc i love cate blanchett.
> 
> thank u for reading! pls pls comment/kudos bc i love the attention <3

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are much appreciated
> 
> chapter one title from: please listen closely by dodie  
> chapter two title from: architecture by maisie peters  
> chapter three title from: heater by little car  
> chapter four title from: soundtrack song by the lumineers  
> chapter five title from: spaceship by art sorority  
> chapter six title from: peach trees by ax and the hatchetmen


End file.
